Originally published in French by BDCAF Magazine, Nadine Van der Straeten discusses her inspiration for the Jeanne & Modigliani graphic novel.
Jeanne Hébuterne was the last companion of Amedeo Modigliani and she loved him “to death”. In this very beautiful album coming to Black Panel Press and Tartamudo Editions (French Version), Nadine Van der Straeten paints the portrait of a woman under the influence, taken before her time.
BDCAF’MAG : why create a graphic novel about Jeanne Hebuterne?
It all started with the exhibition of the patron Jonas Netter at the Pinacothèque in Paris. Several of Modigliani’s paintings were present, including a few portraits of Jeanne Hebuterne. More precisely, it was in reading the description of one of the paintings, which mentioned her tragic end, that I felt the need to know more.
I started to research more about this artist. And then, as often happens, we pull a thread and the whole story unravels… How did this romantic relationship exist between the two artists? That’s what interested me first and foremost. A rich documentation exists about Jeanne and Modigliani, notably the written testimonials that were written after the death of the couple. Since some of the testimonials were contradictory, I needed to lead a sort of police investigation in order to distinguish the real from the fantasy.
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